Ride-on vehicles for children have become increasingly popular due in part to the desire of children to drive self-propelled vehicles resembling full-size vehicles. Such ride-on vehicles, or ride-ons, are typically propelled by battery-powered motors and generally include scaled-down features of full-size vehicles.
One challenge in designing reduced-scale vehicles is to make the vehicle resemble a full-size vehicle, while still providing a vehicle that is safe for use by children. When a ride-on is designed to resemble a four-wheeled vehicle, such as a car or truck, the corresponding ride-on tends to also have four wheels. When a ride-on is designed to resemble a motorcycle, however, a balance must be reached between safety and the accuracy of the reproduction. Certainly the most accurate reproduction is for the ride-on to only have two wheels. However, children may not have the size, strength or coordination to balance a two-wheeled ride-on, especially when propelled by the ride-on's motor. Adding additional wheels to the ride-on detracts from the accuracy of the reproduction, and thus may reduce the child's desire for the ride-on.
The invented ride-on, or ride-on vehicle, includes a frame having a seat adapted to support a child, and a drive assembly with a battery-powered motor assembly. The ride-on vehicle further includes one or more steerable wheels and one or more driven wheels. In some embodiments, the ride-on vehicle includes a biasing assembly that is connected to the frame and adapted to bias the seat away from the vehicle's driven wheels. In some embodiments, the ride-on vehicle includes a free-floating wheel, which is unbiased and travels within a defined range of positions with respect to the ride-on vehicle's frame as external forces are imparted to the wheel. In some embodiments, the ride-on vehicle includes a high-speed switch positioned for momentary high-speed operation of the ride-on vehicle and a user-manipulable portion may be provided to enable a child to select such a high-speed configuration.